My first student film was Orientation, which was basically the set-up for Animal House. There are a couple of scenes that we later borrowed in some form.
'Saw' really was like a student film for me; we expected it to go straight to video. I never expected anyone to see that film, and then it becomes one of the most successful horror franchises.
Martin Scorsese was being given an honorary doctorate, and one of the tutors asked if there was a student film he particularly liked. He mentioned our film. There was a dinner after the final show just for the tutors, but I was smuggled in to meet Scorsese over dessert.
My wife Victoria Harwood was art director on 'Far North,' and she had designed my student film, 'The Sheep Thief.'
I met Milos in 1967. I was working on a student film. And there is Milos Forman. So that's how I met Milos.
'Victoria Para Chino,' my 2nd-year film at NYU, gave birth to 'Sin Nombre.'
When I made my student film, a feature, nobody wanted to talk to me and I was, like, in the desert for 12 years.
I remember doing a little student film where we had a guy that couldn't pull focus. We ended up spending three times the amount of time shooting this thing as opposed to if the guy could've just pulled focus.
'Saw,' in many ways, was like my student film. The first crappy student film you don't really want people to see.
